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Little Bellies Organic Strawberry Pick-Up Sticks | Chewsday Review

Little Bellies Pick-Up Sticks are popular among families with young babies, but are they worth picking up and putting in your trolley?

Ingredients

Positives

Little Bellies Pick-up Sticks are low in sugar, with only 5.2g per 100g and all of this comes from the fruit powders.
These puffs have been fortified with iron, which is an added bonus. Unfortunately, the amount of iron isn’t declared on the nutrition information panel, which leaves me suspicious that it’s not very much. Other products in this range (like the Little Bellies Blueberry Puffs) do have a decent amount of iron, as indicated on the nutrition info panel.
Baby puffs can be helpful to support developing biting and chewing skills as they dissolve quickly and easily as your baby brings them to their mouth. This can also be helpful for parents who are feeling worried about serving finger foods.
The resealable packet of these is super convenient for on the go. There are 5 serves per packet, but keep in mind the serve size is teeny tiny (only 2 sticks).
These have no added salt, so are low in sodium.
These also contain no common allergens so are a convenient option for babies with food allergies.

Negatives

I really don’t know if we can call these strawberry pick-up sticks?! They’re only 4% strawberry. Two sticks (a serve) contain 0.13g of strawberry powder, which is hardly any strawberry!
At the end of the day, these are basically puffed air. Whilst there is nothing technically wrong with them, they aren’t going to be very filling and contain very little of anything. They would be great for practicing biting and chewing but I wouldn’t offer them too frequently on their own.
These puffs will cost you a pretty penny! They’re $3.75 for a 16g packet – which works out to $234 per kg!

Marketing

“7+ months.” I don’t typically love ages on baby food products but 7 months and older is an appropriate age for this snack
“Do what’s natural.” This is kind of hilarious, because I’m not sure where in nature you can find strawberry flavoured corn puffs?!
“No added sugar or salt.” Tick! Did you know that in Australia food for babies under 12 months cannot contain added sugar or added salt? In saying this, some food companies are a little sneaky and use fruit concentrates as a sweetener. If you’ve picked up a product labelled “12 months+” and wondered why your 10 month old baby can’t eat it, then these rules could be to blame as the restrictions relax for products marketed as 12 months+.
“Certified organic.” It’s impossible to miss that these are organic – it’s in the product name, the ingredients list, multiple statements and 3 (!!) organic symbols. Little Bellies really want consumers to know this product is organic! But remember, organic doesn’t necessarily mean a food is more nutritious, it just tells us how it was grown.

Alternatives

Nutritionally the Little Bellies baby puffs and pick-up sticks are fairly similar across the different flavours. They’re fairly low in fibre, but do contain some iron. I do wish they told us how much iron they contained, but at this point I’d suggest the puffs over the sticks. If you’re offering them regularly, I’d suggest including other foods alongside them to make a more substantial meal or snack.
The puffs from Kiddylicious and Meltaway Sticks from Whole Kids are fairly similar nutritionally, so if you’re comparing the bunch, I’d choose whichever is on sale.
If you’re feeling nervous about offering finger foods to your baby, I’d love to support you with this in my Baby Mealtimes membership. I have a whole gallery of finger food ideas to help you progress with safe textures for your baby’s skills and offer inspiration, and members can also access my guide for choosing baby puffs here.